Winners Selected in Project Springboard New Venture Competition

Shiv Patel Wins Project Springboard

May 2, 2014

Bradley University senior Shiv Patel took first place in the eighth annual Project Springboard New Venture Competition at Bradley University on Monday winning a prize package that includes cash, business services and mentoring to help launch his business.

Patel, a mechanical engineering major from Glendale Heights, Illinois, established a venture called Chargd, that introduced backpacks with charging capabilities for tablets and phones.

The winner’s prize package includes $10,000 cash, office space from Foster College of Business, consulting from the Turner Center for Entrepreneurship, Junction Ventures and Central Illinois Angels, marketing assistance from Converse Marketing, technology assistance from Clifton Larson Allen and legal advice from Miller, Hall and Triggs.

Second place went to senior Tom Hornstein of Pekin, whose venture called Nooz, is a crowd sourced news application for smartphones. Third place went to senior Ryan Miller of Deerfield, Illinois, for his venture The PlayGround Games, a large-scale traveling production of popular schoolyard games.

Project Springboard and its sponsors advance Bradley University’s entrepreneurship initiative by inspiring and educating aspiring entrepreneurs in the creation, start-up, and early stages of launching a business. The Project Springboard New Venture Competition brings students real-life business planning experience and the opportunity to win cash and services valued at over $100,000 to help them successfully launch their new business venture. The competition, open to Bradley students in all majors, was established in fall 2006.

Bradley is a top-ranked private, independent university in Peoria, Illinois, offering 5,700 students the choice of more than 100 academic programs. Bradley links academic excellence, experiential learning and leadership development with an entrepreneurial spirit for a world-class education. Its size provides students with extensive resources not available at most private colleges and the personal attention not commonly found at large universities.